Six West Virginians held a sit-in at Senator Shelley Moore Capito’s office in Charleston yesterday saying they wouldn’t leave until she votes against the Senate bill to replace the Affordable Care Act. The group was peacefully arrested around 5pm.
The Senate plan to overhaul the Affordable Care Act was released last week. Five Republican Senators have come out against the bill as written. West Virginia’s Shelley Moore Captio has not made a definitive statement one way or another. Her office told West Virginia Public Broadcasting yesterday that she “is continuing to review and working to improve the health care legislation released last week. She welcomes and appreciates the perspectives of West Virginians as this process continues.”
The group holding the sit-in is part of Rise-Up West Virginia, one of many state activist groups who have expressed opposition to the GOP health care plan.
“If she doesn’t vote no, she is doing such damage to the citizens of West Virginia that we would hope the citizens of West Virginia would realize how bad that is,” said Terry Pickett, one of the stand-in participants.
The Congressional Budget Office released an analysis of the Senate plan Monday. It found the bill would leave 22 million more people uninsured by 2026 than are today under the Affordable Care Act. That’s about a million fewer than a similar plan proposed by the House last month.
Appalachia Health News is a project of West Virginia Public Broadcasting, with support from the Benedum Foundation, Charleston Area Medical Center and WVU Medicine.